No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the...

Nas has written a statement on Instagram discussing racial inequality.

America has spent so much time, money & resources fighting wars abroad and completely fell asleep at the wheel of the war brewing within our cities, neighborhoods & blocks. We are supposed to stand for freedom & equal opportunity. That's supposed to mean MORE than just words but the actions of late just don't speak to what we are supposed to stand for. This is BIGGER than BLACK and WHITE. This is about America selling a false dream. Now we've obviously progressed since the inception of this nation but we took our eye off the ball and it feels as though things are moving backwards. As a black man, I find it difficult...

Ariana Grandewrote a note confronting the sexism she's faced in her eight years in the industry, including being defined by her relationships with men and the constant pressure to have such a relationship. You can read the whole thing in the replies.

In case you missed it on social media somehow, Akon has undertaken a new philanthropic endeavor: bringing electricity to roughly 600 million people living in Africa via his Solar Academy. Read more here.

A variety of record labels in and around Indiana have penned an open letter against the IRFRA law. The full letter is in the replies.

We join the chorus of Indiana residents and businesses calling on Governor Mike Pence and the Indiana General Assembly to repeal the IRFRA. Additionally, we appeal to our state government leaders to enact legislation clearly protecting the civil liberties of LGBT individuals to assure that none of our employees or neighbors may be discriminated against due to sexual orientation or gender identity.

Update: Also, a live chat with Emma Watson focusing on HeForShe and gender equality can be found, joined and viewed here.

Today is International Women's Day 2015 and everyone should take the time to celebrate, appreciate and love. For more information, news and events surrounding today feel free to visit here and of course join the HeForShe movement. "Celebrate women's achievements. Celebrate equality. Make it happen."

Viet Cong have had their upcoming show at Oberlin cancelled. The promoter responsible for the cancellation has issued a statement citing the nature of the bands name, which is lifted from a Vietnamese organization that tortured and ran prison camps in the Vietnamese War. The band has previously responded to such compaints, saying in part that "Vietnamese immigrants—the Vietnamese Canadians and Vietnamese Americans—will write us an email saying that their family was tortured by the Viet Cong for five years in a prison camp. ... It's just a band name. It's just what we called ourselves." You can read the promoter's full statement in the replies.

On February 26, the FCC approved new, stronger network neutrality rules that regulate internet access like a public utility. Network neutrality supporters hailed the proposal. But Republicans in Congress say that it will lead to excessive regulation of the internet. They're working on legislation that would partially reverse the rules.

Fireworks asked Bill Clinton to play saxophone on their last album. He declined because his schedule is "quite full."

The email, from Jenna Daley, read: "Thank you for inviting President Clinton to play his saxophone as part of your band's album in September of 2013. As I'm sure you can imagine, his calender is shaping up to be quite full and due to prior constraints on his schedule, he is unable to join. I want to thank you again for your outreach, and wish you the best with your ongoing album recording."

While promoting his new book, Huckabee told People magazine, “I don’t understand how on one hand they can be such doting parents and so careful about the intake of everything — how much broccoli they eat and where they go to school … and yet they don’t see anything that might not be suitable” in the lyrics and a Beyoncé choreography “best left for the privacy of her bedroom.”

It seems this is most people's opinion of the one-sided beef: Kozelek, a notorious curmudgeon, isn't doing anything harmful by harassing these guys. In fact, he's just doing what he's always done—being a grumpy ass who doesn't seem to care what people think of him. These same people insist that ignoring him and letting him continue to do this kind of stuff is the best option moving forward. To speak up about this kind of behavior from artists and performers is to inevitably be met with, "Lighten up, not everything has...

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day. Stay safe and enjoy (hopefully) the day off.

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other...

Workers at Guitar Center in Chicago, New York City, and Las Vegas have come together to form unions so they can negotiate for better working conditions in writing from their employers at Guitar Center and ARES/Bain Capital. They're looking for your support by signing this petition.

So we decided to come together. We're organizing with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and we are asking the company to recognize our union and negotiate for a fair contract. With Bain Capital's track record, we need your support. Let Bain Capital know you support our right to come together for a fair workplace.

Things are not looking good on the net neutrality front. According to several sources the FCC is set to propose new net neutrality rules "that would allow broadband providers to charge companies a premium for access to their fastest lanes." Or, as Tim Wu in The New Yorker so eloquently put it: "It threatens to make the Internet just like everything else in American society: unequal in a way that deeply threatens our long-term prosperity."

A new study has found that when reviewers were told the author of a legal brief was black they consistently rated the piece lower in quality and identified more errors than its identical counterpart. Evan Soltas, writing for Vox, has more:

Arin N. Revees, the president of Nextions and the author of the study, argues that the implicit racism happened because reviewers take the racial information she provided as a cue for how they should judge the work. When the author is supposed to be white, reviewers excused errors as out of haste or inexperience. They commented that the author "has potential" and was "generally a good writer but needs to work on" some skills. When the author is...

Bloomberg is reporting that the NSA not only knew about the Heartbleed bug, but that they exploited it for at least two years. This is my reminder to you that you should be using unique passwords with all your online accounts (I recommend a password manager like 1Password).

The U.S. National Security Agency knew for at least two years about a flaw in the way that many websites send sensitive information, now dubbed the Heartbleed bug, and regularly used it to gather critical intelligence, two people familiar with the matter said. The NSA’s decision to keep the bug secret in pursuit of national security interests threatens to renew the rancorous debate over the role of the government’s...

Jump to the replies to watch Ariana Grande do a stellar cover of Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing" for President Obama and more at the White House for the "Women of Soul" concert put on by the First Lady.

Rob Ford, the Toronto mayor who has admitted to smoking crack in his office, recently attended a fundraising event for Toronto beat/electronic producers. He walked on stage to the coke-rap king Pusha-T's "Numbers On The Boards" and made a beat onstage, video of which can be found in the replies. Given the rumors that Joaquin Phoenix had produced tracks for Pusha's My Name Is My Name, I think this has to be another I'm Still Here-esque stunt.

Canadian industrial band Skinny Puppy were more than a little irritated when they discovered that the U.S. government apparently uses their music to torture detainees at Guantanamo Bay. So they sent an invoice to the Department of State to the tune of $660,000 in royalties.

The XX have taken to Facebook to speak out about a Croatian political organization using their song "Intro" in an advertisement against same-sex marriage.

It has come to our attention that our music has been used without our permission in a promotional advert by the Croatian organisation "U ime obitelji". We wish to state that we didn't, and would never, approve the use of our music by this organisation. To be clear, we unconditionally support the equal right to marriage regardless of sexuality.

It looks like Kony (the warlord brought to the attention of many via the Kony 2012 campaign) is reportedly "in talks" with the Central African Republic governement to possibly surrender.

US officials expressed doubt that the new talks represented a long-awaited breakthrough. The US State Department said the LRA's top commanders had used "any and every pretext to rest, regroup and rearm, ultimately returning to kidnapping, killing, displacing and otherwise abusing civilian populations".

The deluxe version of the singer's new album Prism has been the subject of international security concerns, because the artwork contains a seed paper that fans are encouraged to plant and "spread the light". Australian officials have been told to inspect any copies of the CD from overseas, since the international versions of the album include seeds that are not locally sourced.

New FAA guidelines will soon allow us to use e-books, listen to music, or watch videos on devices in "airplane mode" during take off.

Passengers can use e-book readers, play games and watch videos on devices, and can hold gadgets during both take-off and landing, or else stow them in the seatback pocket. These gadgets need to be in Airplane Mode or have cell service turned off during both landing and taxi/take-off, but you can actually use Wi-Fi during your flight and continue to use Bluetooth accessories connected to your phone.

Wendy Davis matters. She's a woman fighting for what's right. A lot of people aren't agreeing with her; she's doing something that's out of the norm. A lot of people who do agree are scared to speak, or they're not in a position to be heard. So I definitely respect Ms. Davis for planting new seeds for women's rights. I'm trying to do that on my level, too. I think women are going to keep excelling. We're going to have a woman president. We need more women in the workforce, way more women involved in running everything. That's our problem.

Rocketown does not comment on personnel issues, but, generally speaking, an employee would not be fired for expressing opinions on marriage. At Rocketown we are welcoming and accepting of all youth. We reach out to all kids, are inclusive and very much care about acceptance of youth from different ethnicities, sexual orientations, financial backgrounds and religions. Our mission is to provide a safe and drug-free environment where kids are welcomed, accepted and loved.

Beyonce got caught for lip-syncing her rendition of "The National Anthem" from yesterday's performance at President Obama's inauguration. It's also worth noting that Kelly Clarkson DID perform when she sang "My Country Tis' of Thee."

An employee of the Nashville venue Rocketown was recently fired after 7 years of employment for wearing a Hostage Calm "I Support Same-Sex Marriage" shirt.

From the Band

Today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a longtime supporter of Hostage Calm and marriage equality was fired from his job at the Nashville music venue, Rocketown, for wearing his “I Support Same-Sex Marriage” shirt to work. A friend from Nashville contacted me about the situation and told me of Wes Breedwell, this seven-year employee of Rocketown who now finds himself the victim of discrimination. We called this brave man to hear his story, demonstrate our support, and figure out how we can help.

Lupe Fiasco was kicked off stage last night at the StartUp RockOn event in Washington, although he was booked as the headliner. Head to the replies to watch the video where he calls out President Obama.